Saturday, October 29, 2016

New book on multilingual education in India with a special focus on teaching English.

Dr Mahendra Mishra is a well known figure in the area of multilingual education in India. He was State Coordinator for Multilingual Education (1996-2010) in Odisha and spearheaded the mother tongue-based multilingual education in the primary schools in ten tribal languages there. So, when he (co-)writes a book, we better take notice!

MLE proponents usually have a love-hate relationship with English as the English is often suppressing the building of a good foundation in the mother tongue. It is therefore quite courageous to write a book on "Multilingual Education in India: The Case for English". The description makes you want to read more:

"Some perceive English language education as a hindrance to the growth of lndian languages and allege that it causes a social divide. The arguments of this book convincingly correct this uninformed notion and prove that English has been a tool of empowerment and a driver of social and economic mobility. The contributors demonstrate that local languages and cultures can be revived by integrating them into English language education."

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Outlook reporter explores the language factor in Maoist conflict

Debarshi Dasgupta describes himself as a "media fellow exploring linguistic aspects of the Maoist conflict". In that context he looks at schools and at what language goverenment officials use in Bastar district in Chhattisgarh.

In the artucle Black Chalk on Board, which will appear in this weeks' issue of Outlook, he explores the case of a eight year old boy, Sundar, from the Dhurwi tribe who after three years of schooling still does not understand a word of his teacher's Hindi:
"Sundar is a good example of how a poorly run education system and a blinkered resolve to teach only Hindi at the primary level, can spawn chronic illiteracy amongst the perfectly able. Chhatt­i­sgarh's tribal children have ended up being a mute lot, overwhelmed by a lan­g­uage they don't understand and intimidated by non-tribal teachers who take them to task if they use their own."
In the article he builds a strong case for the use of the tribal languages in the class and also discusses some of the citics.

In the aricle Language of the Land he critisizes the government for not making it mandatory for officers working in that region to learn a local language. He contrast that with the Maoist whose leaders do make it a point to use the tribal langiuage:
"It is through dedicated linguistic outreach that the Maoists have accentuated their proximity to adivasis and their faith in the tribal cause. Top commanders have acquired near-native skills in Gondi, spoken widely by marginalised tribals in south Chhattisgarh and adjoining areas. Even those Maoists from other tribal communities, including foot soldiers, have had to learn Gondi. "
He concludes:
"Perception matters a lot in this ongoing battle for minds, and being perceived as unfriendly to tribal languages and cultures is one that continues to cost the state dear in this conflict."

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Lessons in mother tongue for Rajasthan schools

After Andra Pradesh and Odisha, now also Rajesthan wants to implement education in the mother tongue of the children. The Times of India reports:

"To curb the dropout rates, especially among children in the tribal and remote areas and to instill interest towards learning, Rajasthan State Institute for Education and Training ( SIERT) is set to launch a UNICEF supported pilot project on MTB learning. Ten schools each in Udaipur, Dungarpur and Banswara districts have been chosen under the project, where children of class one will be given lessons in the local dialect. While Mewari will be the medium of teaching for students in Udaipur, teachers will communicate in Wagri with the scholars in the other two districts."

Monday, June 23, 2014

The report on the National Seminar on Language Education has come out . The seminar was organized jointly by the SCERT and IFIG at 21-23 February, 2014 at Raipur Chhattisgarh with Dr Mahendra Mishra as convenor. The three main issues addressed at this seminar are stated as follows:

How multilinguality is a reality and how our schools are unable to ensure the linguistic rights of the children.

How language of the text book is teacher-centric and unable to represent the meaning of the texts in a language that is not understood by the children.

How education can be imparted – as far as practicable to those children who are linguistic minority, and equally be able to maintain equal competencies in many languages like Hindi and English based on their mother tongue.

Experts in the area of multilingualism and multilingual education like Prof. D P Pattanayak, Prof Ramakant Agnihotri, Prof. Rajesh Sachdeva, Prof. Minati Panda presented papers and contributed to the discussions. Even though it was a national seminar, there was a special emphasis on the host state Chhattisgarh. Some of the listed outcomes for this state are:

Preparation of report on linguistic survey as it was already done in 2008 by SCERT but not in a report form

Reform of curriculum, based on children’s language, knowledge and revise text book.

Recruitments of teacher’s policy based on availability of language teachers in tribal areas

More 2-3 conceptual seminars will be organise on language at different areas.

Particular those with an interest in the state of Chhattisgarh should take an effort to read this 52 page report which gives a rich overview of the discussions and deliberations during this 3 day seminar.

Regards, KarstenPS IFIG is the "ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth"

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Madia children in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh now have the opportunity to learn different subjects in their mother tongue. This used to be impossible in the past due to the double burden of learning various subjects in unfamiliar languages such as Marathi in Maharashtra or Hindi in Chhattisgarh and learning either language in each state. So the following statement makes sense to them now.

“Language (Madia) becomes a major issue in early years of education as it is not just a medium of communication but a link to the entire culture and values of a race.”

For the entire article for Madia medium MLE school in early stage in Lok Biradari Ashram School, click the below link. Nurturing one's own language

M TALL involves all major language group experts, related NGOs, media, 5 government departments, teachers and children. Recently a team of DIET from Chhattisgarh appreciate these model and expressed to replicate this in their state as well. Binay Pattanayak, an UNICEF education specialist is behind all these activities.